Sunday, February 2, 2014

Battery – Armed With Rage

Battery is a thrash metal band hailing from the somewhat
metal-abundant land of Denmark. They appear to be named after the classic
Metallica tune, and it really couldn’t be a more appropriate title for what the
band delivers on “Armed With Rage”. This is their debut full-length album, and
it is simply a veritable onslaught of aggression, energy, and riffs. In fact,
this band tends to have that in common with nearly every band on their label,
Punishment 18 Records. Perhaps where Battery most noticeably delivers this
primal rage is in the drumming. For one thing, the snare is tuned with such an
incredible crack, that it’s impossible not to notice it throughout the record.
In addition, blast beats are used to make the drums standout for old-school
thrash records. They do not appear too often, but still show up now and again
(particularly in the opening track, “Narcotic Mirage”). It also helps that a couple of songs open with fills, and that the drums are generally louder than the other instruments. If you're a drummer, you'll definitely dig this record.

One thing Battery has working for them (but also against them)
is the sheer tenacity of the album. The band never leaves overdrive. Even when
things seem like they’re going to slow down for a minute, there is sure to be
another, much faster riff coming. This is good because they avoid being one of
those boring, groovy thrash bands, and it really amps up the guitar solos, but it also hurts them because they don’t do
the best job of making anything stand out on “Armed With Rage”. The riffs are
great, but there are so many of them, and they’re repeated so little that there
is not much you’re left with when the album ends. The one exception to this is the opening to "Vermin of Fukushima", where a killer bass groove kicks things off, and is then followed by a crushingly heavy riff that repeats a few times throughout the song. Aside from this however, the band rarely experiments. This somewhat monotonous sound is compounded by the fact that Battery doesn’t
have a particularly distinctive vocalist either. He is a bit harsher than your
standard thrash singer, but has little variation. Fans of Warpath (UK) will
definitely notice some similarities in the vocals.

Despite what I’ve said above, “Armed With Rage” is still a
pretty solid release. The problem with thrash is that there’s so much of it
that is similar, that it can be hard to stand out. This album certainly won’t
bore you, but it is also unlikely to captivate you. Throw it on if you’re
looking for a fun 40-minute assault of riffs.